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St. Martin de Porres, also known as, the Saint of the Broom, celebrates his feast day on November 3 (new and traditional calendars). He lived from 1579 to 1639 and he’s the patron of African-Americans; against rats; barbers; hair stylists; hotel-keepers; mixed-race people; poor people; public education; public health; racial harmony; etc. Read more HERE .  To create this ornament you will need: yellow felt white felt black felt dark brown felt medium brown felt light blue felt black permanent sharpie marker orange permanent sharpie marker  brown permanent sharpie marker scissors  (these  kind work well) glue (hot glue,  felt glue ,  or tacky glue – like  this  or  this ) thread and needle for the looped hanger Cut out the parts as pictured above. Use an orange marker to add an edge to the halo. Use a brown and black marker to add detail to the broom. And use black marker to make the hair and face on the head. Glue the robe and halo to the blue back ground add the black scapular to the front of the white robe. Glue the black collar to the top of the robe – only glue it in the middle. Lift the sides to add the arms. once you see the arms will be covered and look good, glue down the arms and outer edge of the black collar.  Add this head. Add the broom to one arm and a cross to the other. Cut out around the edge to remove any extra blue background. Add a looped hook to the top to hang it up. St. Martin de Porres, pray for us! God bless. ~JenMarie and Elizabeth

St. Josaphat, an Eastern Rite bishop, was martyred as he was trying to bring part of the Orthodox Church into union with Rome. He was killed by an angry mob with a gun and ax. Josaphat’s body was thrown into the river but emerged, surrounded by rays of light. Read more HERE . His feast day is November 12th (New) and November 14th (Traditional).   To make this ornament you will need: gray felt medium brown felt red felt black permanent sharpie marker scissors  (these  kind work well) glue (hot glue,  felt glue ,  or tacky glue – like  this  or  this ) thread and needle for the looped hanger This ornament is very simple once you cut out all the parts. We used a black marker to add detail to the ax head and gun. Then, we just glued them all down onto the red background. We cut out around the background to remove any extra. Then we added the threaded loop to hang it up.  That’s it! 🙂 St. Josaphat, pray for us! ~JenMarie and Elizabeth

St. Teresa of Avila’s (AKA: St. Teresa of Jesus) feast day is Oct. 15 in the new and traditional calendars.   St. Teresa once said: "Let nothing disturb thee, Nothing dismay thee. All is passing, God ever remains. Patience obtains all. Whoever possesses God Cannot lack anything God alone suffices." Those words are ones I often need to hear! Read about her HERE . St. Teresa’s ornament is a heart, a flaming arrow and the Holy Spirit. These are all common symbols of Teresa of Avila. To make this ornament you will need: red felt medium or dark brown felt yellow felt white felt (optional) orange sharpie marker purple sharpie marker scissors  glue (hot glue, felt glue ,  or tacky glue – like this or this ) thread and needle to make the hanger Cut out the parts like those pictured above. (The dove parts can be optional if you think that\’s too challenging or time consuming.) Use purple marker to outline the heart and orange marker to outline the flame. Glue down the flame and the arrow’s stick. Now glue down the triangle point and the feather parts of the arrow.  Finally add the dove. (if you wish) Glue down the wings first and then the body. Add the threaded loop to the heart. We spanned our loop from one side of the heart to the other so it helps to kept the heart up-right. Each end of the thread is knotted on the back of the heart. St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us! ~JenMarie and Elizabeth

Joshua is dressed as St. Rocco (AKA: St. Roch).  To create this costume I used: brown robe – like THIS or THIS   – OT is cheaper HERE twine, rope, or other string stuff dog – like THIS walking stick with a small rag-sack tied to it (optional) This costume is fairly simple to compile. It’s just a brown robe tied at the waist and a stuffed dog. The walking stick is optional. Ours is just a straight stick with a white scrap piece of material tied to the top. It’s filled with a few paper napkins to make it puff out.  Really the dog is what makes the costume. St. Rocco, pray for us. ~JenMarie

My girls and I like to wear medals – all kinds of saint medals! But when you hang a medal on a necklace it often looks so lonely. By itself, it seems so easy to over look and can appear not very classy. But recently I had an idea… My girls all love charms! They like the tiny, cuteness in these shiny miniatures. So why not combine medals and charms together to make a jewelry statement that is eye catching, beautiful, and meaningful? My girls just love these! So I’m making some more of them to sell on my Etsy shop . I thought you might like these, too. I named the new charm/medal jewelry “Saint-Symbol Jewelry” because all the charms are symbols that relate to the saint medal that they are with.  For example, here is the St. Therese Saint-Symbol necklace: The St. Therese Necklace includes a 5 flower connector, a rose, and a heart/rose charm. I think they just look so gorgeous together! St. Francis is hanging on a dainty looking branch with his woodland friends. It’s makes you feel so peaceful! This St. Joseph necklace was a favorite of my daughter Elizabeth. She was born on his feast day and loves to work with wood! Win, win! 🙂 Our Lady Star of the Sea (Stella Maris) is accompanied by a light house – the symbol of God’s guidance- and an anchor -the symbol of hope.  (I have two variations of this listed.) The St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Charm Bracelet has a school theme. Look at all those cute little school charms!! The St. Gerard bracelet is perfect for a mom-to-be or a pro-life advocate. It includes lots of baby items and a pro-life rose! Here is the charm bracelet with a First Communion theme. It has a church, wheat, chalice, grapes, Bible, wheat cross, a Blessed Sacrament medal, and a 2015 charm to commemorate the year that your daughter/granddaughter/niece received her First Communion. On this necklace, St. Philomena is flanked by two of her symbols of martyrdom. There are more Saint-Symbol Jewelry listed in our Etsy shop . Drop in to see them all … I will be adding more! While you are there you also might like to see our other Jewelry gems. Above is a pair of earrings which are a crown of thorns and a crucifix. We also are selling a matching necklace! My oldest daughter Rachel designed these.  Click Here  to see them. You might like to look at our corded necklaces, too!! We have two different Mary images available. Click here. I have been blessed to have wonderful followers such as you. I would like to share that blessing back by offering 10% off your purchases of $25 or more. Use the code FOLLOWER at the check out. This code is good for all items in our Etsy shop! Check out our  Etsy shop to see the entire collection and visit often, because I will be adding more! We have lots of items which would make great gifts for First Communion, Easter, Mother’s day, and birthdays! Here are some general links to our new listings: Saint-Symbol Necklaces  (more saints coming) Saint-Symbol Charm Bracelets  (more saints coming) Corded Necklaces with Images of Our Blessed Mother Jewelry items with a crown of thorns and a crucifix First Communion Jewelry May God Bless you all with a wonderful joy-filled day!~Jen-Marie

The Anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun is Oct. 13th. In honor of the occasion I wanted to share an art project which centers around this amazing miracle. I asked the kids to image what they think the ”dancing” sun may have looked like to the people who were standing in the crowd on that rainy October day. Then they created some wonderful pictures. Read about Fatima and the sun miracle HERE . To create this you will need: yellow construction paper (Cut onto 8 x 11 inch page – if you want to add it to a 3 ring binder-art-portfolio.) black construction paper crayons  scissors glue Using your crayons, create your ”dancing” sun scene. Leave a little extra room at the bottom for the crowd of people. Using a white crayon, draw the heads of the crowd onto the black paper. You need to make 2 or 3 layers of heads.  The layers should have different heights so they can all be seen. Range the heights from 1 inch to 2 inches. Also create a few pointing and/or praising people. These will be added to the crowd to make more interest and diversity.  Cut out all the people and make sure they all have a white out line. This creates a sunshine look on their silhouettes. It also make them easier to see.  Glue the layers together and then glue them on to the bottom for the sun picture.  Add the extra people. Glue them between the layers. You may need to cut off some of there body to make them fit.  If you have cut the yellow paper down to a regular sheet size you will need to cut off the extra black parts along the edges.  Here is an example of a finished project, and below are the few of the projects my kids made. May you all have a blessed day! ~JenMarie

The feast day of our Guardian Angels is Oct. 2nd (new and traditional calendars)! We can’t overlook the feast day of our own personal help and guide! After all these holy angels have been by our side from the beginning of our lives!  Elizabeth and I created two ornaments for the Guardian Angels. One has a boy on it and one has a girl. You could make a bigger ornament and add them all together if you wish. But I figured the boys would like to have a less girly looking ornament! 😉  Boy\’s Guardian Angel  To make the boy ornament you will need: white felt green felt medium blue felt light blue felt peach/tan felt navy blue felt black felt (for shoes) maroon felt yellow felt permanent sharpie markers : black, brown, orange, blue and yellow (optional) scissors good quality, thick tacky glue or hot glue (I use hot glue)Tacky glue like this: HERE and HERE You may also like to try Felt Glue needle and thread to make a loop for hanging Cut out all the parts and pieces like those pictured above. We used blue marker to add detail to the angel\’s robe, We also used black to add a shaded edge to the maroon shirt and we used orange to add an edge to the yellow halo. Use brown marker to make hair on the two heads and black to make eyes and a mouth. Use a set of dots to make the mouth so the line will have a cleaner look.  Now glue the green grass onto the light blue background. Glue the wings onto the back of the angel\’s robe. Have a small part of the angels wings sticking out the top of the robe so you have something to glue the head on to. Glue the hands onto the back of the angels sleeves. Now flip him over and add his halo and then his head. Now glue the angel onto the grass and blue sky background. Next make the boy. Glue the arms and the top edge of the paints to the back of the shirt. Add the shoes to the back of the pants leg. Then flip him over and add the head to the top of the shirt. Next, glue him in front of his angel.  Cut out around the angel and boy to remove any extra background. Sew a thread through the top and make a loop so you can hang it up. Girl’s Guardian Angel To make the girl ornament you will need: white felt green felt pink felt light blue felt peach/tan felt purple felt brown felt yellow felt permanent sharpie markers : black, brown, orange, purple, pink, and yellow scissors good quality, thick tacky glue or hot glue (I use hot glue)Tacky glue like this:  HERE  and  HERE  You may also like to try  Felt Glue needle and thread to make a loop for hanging Cut out all the parts and pieces like those pictured above. We used pink and yellow markers to add detail to the angel’s robe. We also used purple to add a detail to the purple dress and we used orange to add an edge to the yellow halo. We used a brown marker to add shoes to the girls feet. And we also used a brown marker to detail to the hair pieces.  **But don’t add the eyes and mouth till later. Now glue the green grass onto the light blue background. Glue the wings onto the back of the angel\’s robe. Have a small part of the angels wings sticking out the top of the robe so you have something to glue the head/halo onto. Glue the hands onto the back of the angels sleeves. Now flip her over and add her halo and then her head. Now, add her hair. Next, glue the angel onto the grass and blue sky background. Next make the girl. Glue the arms and the legs to the back of the dress. Then flip her over and add the head to the top of the dress. Then add her hair. Now, glue her in front of her angel. Finally, using a black marker, add the eyes and mouth to the angel and the girl. Create the mouth by making a set of dots. Dots help the edges of the line/mouth maintain a cleaner look.  Cut out around the angel and girl to remove any extra background. Sew a thread through the top and make a loop so you can hang it up. May you all have a blessed day! ~JenMarie and Elizabeth

Last year I posted about our ”Elf on the Shelf” alternative. If you don’t know about ”Elf on the Shelf”, he’s a long lanky toy elf who always finds mischievous things to do each night while the kids are in bed. Well, our family has a bit of a crazy side and that family tradition just seems sooo fun! But my Catholic side never wanted to make an elf the center of Christmas fun. Sure elves are cute, but I try to not make Santa or his elves a focus at Christmas time. While I loved the idea of a cute character getting into a bit of innocent fun each night, I didn’t like using an elf toy for this fun family tradition!   So,  yes I ”Baptized” the Elf on the Shelf idea!  At our house we have the three kings who are searching for baby Jesus each night! This tradition has turned into the talk of our Holiday conversations. The kids are thrilled! They ask about the Wisemen before they ask about a Christmas tree or gifts!  So of course we have to do this again this year!!  I want to explain this tradition better for those who weren’t following our blog last year: Our three Kings: Balthazar, Melchior, Caspar, and their camel (who my kids have named, but I’m embarrassed to tell you what it is) are a handful! They are on the search for Jesus!  Sometimes they can get into a bit of trouble as they struggle to find the Infant King.  Each night, during Advent till the Epiphany, my husband and I move the three wisemen to a new hiding spot and create a ”situation” for them to get into or out of. Then, after our kids wake up each morning, they try to find the three Wise Men. Most days it’s easy, but some days the kids have to search for awhile!  The only rule we made was that the three wise men have to find the Infant Jesus that belongs to their Nativity set. That’s just to make it more interesting, since we have many nativity sets around the house. Their special nativity set remains hidden in my bedroom until Christmas. Then, Christmas Eve we pull out the nativity and set it up in a special spot. The wise men continue searching for Jesus until the feast of the Epiphany!  These  three wise men  and the  Nativity set  are from Playmobil. (sold separately – I sound like a commercial)  I liked these Wisemen because they are poseable.  I do wish they were more poseable (like an action figure) but these work fine. Because they are poseable, it allows us to make them appear to be doing certain actions like, hold things, climb, slide, reach, etc. This makes them so much more fun!! Typically, we would think that the wisemen should be following a star, so you may be asking, ”Where’s the star?” That is a fair question. When we first started this tradition, we tried having the Wisemen follow a star, but it was hard to have them stay in a path and come up with places (on that path) for them to search.  Plus, the kids knew where the Three Kings were going to be and the journey seemed to be kind of boring. So we changed our idea a bit: Now the Wisemen jump around the house and the kids enjoyed searching for them each morning.  I was upset to lose the star, but we decided to play on the Bible quote: ”Where is the newborn king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to adore him.”  After reading that I figured the Wisemen were a little lost at some point even with the star to guide them. We told our kids that our house is like the city of Bethlehem and the Wisemen are searching Bethlehem for Jesus. We explained to the kids that it’s not 100% like the Bible, but we all found it more interesting and fun this way. Another change we have made since we started our tradition is the time our kings search. We originally were only going to do this from Christmas to the Epiphany, but the kids, my husband, and I were having so much fun with our new tradition that we started hiding the wisemen during Advent, too. Our family has been enjoying this new tradition and we are ALL excited to see our three little amigos start the search again! So prepare yourself for some upcoming posts as we share photos of our Wisemen’s Adventures!  I’m posting this a few weeks before Advent so you have a chance to buy a set for yourself. Our family has just loved this awesome family tradition! I encourage you to try it! The cheapest place I found this set was on Amazon. I hope you can join us! ~JenMarie

Our wise men have been keeping busy this past week! Never a dull day! My kids are having a blast! (If you don’t know about our Wise Men ADVENTures  click here  to learn more about our family tradition! )My teenagers have been helping to come up with some thoughts on where our men should search, but my husband and I have put them in place while the kids are all in bed. If my teens are up late I\’ll let them move the three amigos. I try to remember to move them each night, but I have to admit that I had to get back out of bed last night! Nothing like those fun thoughts that pop into your head when you are about to drift off to sleep!! 🙂 Had I not remembered to move them, I fear what may have happened in the morning!! Well, on with the search….. Day 3 They found the cookie cutters ! Melchior is thinking that the star might help them! I\’m not sure that\’ll work. Caspar is more interested in testing out a new staff! Well, the candy cane cookie cutter could look like a staff! Is the camel wearing a gingerbread man?!?!?  Day 4 On day 4 our wise men were going door to door at the little village that sits high on our window shelf!  Melchior is taking the search very seriously and checking out all the residents!  Caspar is taking a high position to look out over the \”town\”  and that school\’s bell tower is a perfect perch!  I guess Balthazar is taking a break. That front porch looks like a great place to sit! I sure hope he cleans up those cobwebs when he gets up! Yuck!! 😉  Day 5 After seeing the manger hanging at the top of the Advent prayer chain , the three wise men decide to scale the chain to get a closer look!  Wow! What skill!   That looks like a lot of work!  And all to find nothing!!! How sad is that!  Day 6 (St. Nicholas Feast Day) On day 6 the kids woke-up to find treats in their socks and the wise men meeting and greeting Saint Nicholas ! Melchior is asking St. Nick for directions, while Caspar is showing the camel the differences in the St. Nicholas\’ Crosier and his less fancy staff. Is Balthazar trying out our little saint\’s miter!?! He kinda looks like St. Nicholas now!!  We bought our cute little St. Nicholas here .  Day 7 A game of UNO ! Oh my, I guess we all need a day of rest and it is the 7th day!! Gotta love Caspar’s house of cards!  Day 8 Back to the search! That had to be quit a climb. How did that camel get up there!?!?! Wow! Super Camel!   Day 9 Maybe the infant King is in the mint plant!? That’s quite a jungle to search through!  That has to smell strong!  That\’ll clear the sinuses if they have a cold!! Caspar seems to have been distracted by the sight of the freshly falling snow.  To a little guy his size I image that is an awesome sight! Now where will they search tonight? Let me think….

For years I have bought Catholic calendar/planners and I have been rather upset each time. Everyone of them was incomplete. They have only a few of the major feast day listed and they each focused on the feast days of ether the traditional or the new Catholic calendar.    I’ve been looking for a calendar that lists all the feast days for both the new and old calendars. I also wanted it to have a complete list of the saints’ feast days for each and every day.   After buying a number of calendar/planners I started to give up hope of finding that planner that gave me all that I was looking for.  A few months ago, I found a Catholic planner on Amazon . This planner was published by Tan Books. I was very leery of trying it. I thought it would be just like the other planners I had bought. But since I needed a planner, I thought I would go ahead and try it.  When the planner came in the mail, I was thrilled!! To my surprise it was just what I wanted!!  Not only does it have both the old and the new calendar saints listed, it also has the Historical Saints Feast days! Plus, the saints’ feast days are listed for every day! The pages that list the saints feast days are nice to jot down any ideas I have for the day – like meal plans and other holy day plans, as well as, my appointments and activities.  It also has month-at-a-glace pages. These are always a help when I need to schedule a doctor appointment!   In addition to that, it has pages with saints and their feast days listed in alphabetical order. Plus, lists of patron saints, the 35 Doctors of the Church and the 14 Holy Helpers! There are also a number of pages that explain what the abbreviations in the calendar mean. They also explain about fasting, abstinence, Ember days and more!! It’s a great little resource! Then, there are the 70 saint illustration and short biographies! These are short easy-to-read stories that I have been reading to my kids as the feast day comes.  It’s a great size, too. It measures about 8 inches by 5 inches and it fits in my purse. It easy to take along to appointments and meetings! Really, I’m thrilled with this calendar/planner! It’s great! Plus, it was way cheaper than the other planners I’ve tried! If you are looking for a new planner for this coming year I highly recommend this calendar/planner! The calendar has 16 months – it started in September, 2013 and goes till December, 2014. So if you buy it now you can start to use it right away! Feel free to take a look and see what you think! Hope this calendar can help you as much as it did me! God bless! ~JenMarie

As promised, I’m going to be posting some of our Wise Men ADVENTures! If you didn’t read my last post about our wise men, please click here to read more about our Christ-centered Elf on the Shelf alternative! Yes, Advent is here and Our Wise Men ADVENTures have begun, again!! The wise men are searching for the infant Jesus and once again Caspar just can’t stay focused! AND they only just started the search! Day 1 During the first night, the three little fellows searched in our Rosary can! Is Caspar playing Tarzan?  Day 2 On the second day they were found searching the laundry! Yes, it was clean!! 🙂    Melchior and Balthazar are checking the pockets, but I think Caspar is making himself a tent!  For guys that size it might be a great place to take a nap! Well, they sure are off to a fun start! I’ll be back in a few days to post some more of their ADVENTures! For now, you might like to add your post about your Wise Men and their adventures, or visit other blogs to see what their wise men are doing!

Happy Feast of the Epiphany!  Our Wandering Wise Men have been happily searching for the infant Jesus and today they have finally found Him! So I’m going to give you a round-up of the ADVENTures that our three little seekers have had during the past few weeks.  I did forget to take pictures a few days so you may notice I’m coming up a few days short.  On with the search…. I think our little adventures are looking for a faster ride, but I’m not sure the little iron horse is going to work out. Besides it looks like their old trusty camel is getting upset! The Wise men searched in the hall closet shelf with no luck.  My 5 year old though this was hilarious! She laughed and squealed, \”That pink guy is yelling at that blue guy! That\’s funny!\”  Maybe the baby is in the grapes? Or are the wise men just looking for a juicy dinner? Yuk, hope they didn’t eat them, they’re plastic – then again, so are the wise men! 😉 Maybe He\’s in the kitchen drawer? It looks like Caspar is going to launch Balthazar!! Oh, that could be bad! Maybe the infant King is hiding in the basket like Moses! Or not. The search was so extensive that they even checked the vacuum! Wow! They had to take off the cloaks for this one! They didn\’t want to get them dirty! The candy jars are a yummy place to search.  Look at Caspar’s caramel house! Wow!  They searched in our dry erase board marker baskets! I think Melchior and Caspar are having a light saber battle! Maybe they need to look at a map? Our little Caleb liked this one! He was finally able to steal the magnifying glass from someone who didn’t fight back! Up the paper rack they go! Look at the team work! Hey, if the girls are going to let the bags of beads lay out  then the wise men are going to use the opportunity to search the bags for the Infant King! I think Caspar is enjoying a bead bath!  What a royal looking chandelier, maybe the little King is up there!? Nope! Okay time to use a ”life-line”. So they called all the ”Starrs” in the phone book. Again, no luck. Maybe the infant King was swept up?  Look between the broom bristles! Dad was working on the broken dinning room wall and left the tool bag out! Perfect time to search it!  Nope, he’s not there ether!   Perhaps He’s in the stationary drawers? What a interesting little mess of stuff, but no baby! Now they are getting somewhere! They are searching the Little Town of Bethlehem!  (My husband bought this Bethlehem set for me many years ago. These sets are expensive and hard to find now, but Amazon does still have a few: Here  -at a very high price.) Looks like they are going door to door, and Caspar is hanging high to get a birds eye view!  Finally! Here He is!  A long adventurous journey has come to a happy end!  Our kids are so sad to see that the end is here, but we are all very happy so see that our little friends have found what their hearts desired most: Jesus! Praying you all had a wonderful Christmas Season and will continue to have a faith-filled days through to Jesus’ baptism (Jan 12)!! Please pray for me. ~Jennifer